St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-17
THE BOSTON HORROR.
An Expert Opinion Regarding De.
fects in the Bridge.


New YORK, March 16.-The Engineer
ing News having thoroughly investigated
the Forest Hill disaster on the Boston &
Providence railroad, will publish the follow
ing in regard 20 it it, sils weeks issue:
The cause of this dreadful catastrophe has
been very obscure in the newspaper accounts,
the only certain thing having been that the
bridge was a sort Of patchwork, nondescript,
which violates several of the most important
and fundamental requirements of good bridge
designing. We are now fortunately able TO
shed far more light on what the precise cause
was than has heretofore appeared, or than is
at all likely to appear from any other source,
even i'll the official investigations FROM the
fact that we have now in our Office
what will probably be the most i'm
portant bit of evidence in that investigation
viz: the two original parts which in all hui
man probability were the first to break.
These parts are in the possession of Henry
c. Pritchard, c. E., q practical bridge en-
gineer Of Philadelphia, who undertook to crit
ically examine the structure ON behalf of
this journal, and who went about it appar-
emily
LITTLE MORE SYSTEMATICALLY
than those who had preceded him, in con-
nection with further information gathered
for us within an hour or two after the acci-
dent occurred, by Frederick Brooks {. E.,
of Boston. These fragments may be said to
Guilty, since it was possible that there should
have been more defective parts in the bridge
if it was to stand up ut all. The parts that
first broke were the two hangers which car
ried the last or most easterly pair of floor
beams of the northerly or last built truss
which carried all the load. So far as can be
judged by outside appearances, they are
made of far from good iron 10 begin with. but
in addition to that they are of very bad de-
sign and most imperfecty welded In addi-
f1,.,t fhe.rv
badly fiawed by old and deeply rusted breaks
at the most strained section, there being two
distinct breaks of this kind to each specimen
The first hanger has both breaks across the
weld, the first break being complete, and
THE SECOND BREAK
an inch and half above it, all but complete
the metal merely hanging together by the
outside skin. This hanger can never have
done any work since its original and now an
cient fracture, Or it would have been broken
apart long since. The second hanger was
checked across half of its inside face covered
by the supposed weldt for about half its
depth of effective section aud this was clearly
where fracture first began. 1t caused q sec
ondary fracture at a second old break in the
hook of the welded end which cutoff q some
what large proportion of the effective
strength of the iron. All this is clearly shown
in the engravings of the bridge and its broken
parts which appear in this issue, and the gen.
eral government Of engineers Will bear us out
in saying that more shamefully bad speci-
mems of bridge design, metal and workman
ship. can hardly exist. We regret to have to
express SO sweeping condemnation of the
structure, but the facts more than Justify it
and it is but right that in an occurance of this
kind the truth should be pointed out AID
made clear without fear or favor 1t is
APPALLING to think of the tens of thousands of
lives which have literally hung by thread in
passing over this bridge during the past
eleven years.
THE VICTIMS.
BosToN, March 16.-A number of VIC
tins of the Forest Hill accident were buried
from Rosindale. Dedham and West Rox-
bury to day. There are many who are Sc
riously if not fatally injured in Rosindale,
whose deaths at any moment may be
looked for, and the probabilities are that
the deaths will number over thirty. Some
of the injured are so badly shaken ND and
internally injured that their recovery will
be matter of months. There are many,
too who were removed Immediately after
the accident to various points in ROsiindale
whose names d0 not appear at all in the
papers. A Mr.. Y oung is severely injured
internally. and the doctor is very apprehen-
sive of the results. Alfred Swallow, aged
35, is in bad condition, his bowels being
ruptured. Kanute Lutrop has a big cash
on the back of his head and forehead, A
fresco painter named Session lies with an
injured spine. Those in Roslndale in
critical condition are: Miss Nellie Trabra-
ham, injuries about the head, back and face,
very dangerous; Leo Trabrahanl, left leg
fractured, injury to shoulder, probable frac-
ture Of collar bone, cuts and bruises about
head and face; Mr.. Harkihs. injured about
head, neck and chest. probable concussion
of the brain. has not yet recovered full con-
seriousness; Joseph Metcalf is not expected
to live. was badly jammed in the bowels;
w. Peters, Chas. Morse. j. Watson, John
Murphy and daughter Mamie, all of West